We are pleased to announce the launch of a new version of the Nuclear Science User Facilities websites. This update contains many features aimed at improving the utility and convenience of public- and user-facing systems, new features for facilitating research collaboration, and improvements to methods used in the exploration of supported capabilities and resources. 

User Profile

NSUF account holders will now have access to a dynamically generated User Profile that includes many quality of life improvements to support collaboration, review assignment, publication and presentation administration, and reduce the amount of time required to submit proposals to the NSUF.

In addition to expanded biographical information, automated accomplishments/badges based on involvement with the NSUF, and an improved profile management system that includes centralized publication and presentation administration, the new profile contains sections to display publications, presentations, awarded research projects, and project collaborations.

Each section of the profile supports privacy settings to allow public access, restrict access to NSUF users, or configure the section to be private. By default, all sections that contain publicly available information, such as publications, presentations, or NSUF-supported research projects or collaborations will be displayed to the public. To facilitate collaboration between NSUF researchers, the visibility of contact information is restricted by default, and only displays for logged in NSUF accounts.

Profiles have also been extended to support subject matter expertise 'Keyword' tagging. The selectable SME keywords are directly connected to the same system currently in use by NSUF administrators to connect qualified reviewers with specific research proposals. If you currently participate as a technical reviewer for the NSUF, please take a moment to visit your new profile and confirm that your subject matter expertise is accurate. With accurate SME keywords, the reviews you will be assigned should be easier to complete as they will be more relevant to your expertise.

Collaboration

Improving collaboration was a major goal of this release. To meet this goal, we are rolling out two new methods for researchers to locate potential collaborators for their research projects. In the new Resources section on the NSUF site, there is a new NSUF Researcher screen that will display profile links and subject matter expertise for all researchers who have submitted presentations or proposals to the NSUF, or who have been awarded or collaborated on NSUF-funded research. 

In addition, Institution records in the Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Database (NEID) have been extended to display a similar list of 'People' associated with the institution. Both lists are searchable, sortable, and can be filtered to a specific keyword, to help identify and locate potential qualified collaborators for your next research project.

On your user profile, the Contact section will allow users who are currently logged in to the NSUF website to reach out via the email information you have provided. Should you want to make your contact information available to the general public, simply change the privacy settings for that section to 'Public'.

Publications and Presentations

This release includes a brand new publication and presentation system that has been unified and is now user-centric rather than proposal-centric. This means that publications that you add to the site through the management systems in your proposal can be associated with as many proposal submissions as desired, without needing to fill out the publication forms over and over.

Moving forward, you will only need to add the publication once to your profile, and when you add the publication to a proposal, you need only select it from a list, and the form will be loaded with all information previously provided. To associate an existing publication with a new proposal, simply click 'Save', and the publication will be associated with that proposal automatically. If you need to make a copy of an existing record (as in the case of a presentation that is made to multiple conferences) you would select the publication as before, make edits as needed, then click 'Save as Copy'.

Administration of Authors and Co-Authors have been greatly improved as well, with the addition of a searchable lookup for NSUF Accounts. To add an author with an active NSUF account, simply select their name from the list, and the form will pre-load with the information from their account. If you are adding a co-author who doesn't have a NSUF account, provide their name and email address, and if they create an NSUF account in the future using the same email address, the publications will automatically be associated with their account and become visible on their profile.

Quality of Life

One of the goals of this update was to try to simplify and streamline the submission process for information. With the new publication and presentation management systems in the profile, it is possible to add a publication or presentation once, and associate it with 'one or many' proposals at the same time.

When adding a publication or presentation to a proposal, it is possible to simply associate an existing publication with the proposal with a single click, and when creating a copy of a publication or presentation, you can pre-load the form with the publication details, and you need only change or edit information required for the copy (changing dates, etc.) to create a copy.

You can also edit a publication from any associated proposal or by editing the publication from your profile. The publication and presentation systems are integrated into the proposal system and leverage the same forms you are used to working with - they're just easier to work with and more convenient.

When modifying Publication Authors, the Principal Investigator or a Team Member for a publication or proposal, you will notice a new searchable drop-down for selecting an NSUF account. This will automatically prefill the form with the information from the user account, greatly improving the speed and convenience of providing this information.

Resource Explorer

This update includes a new system to facilitate and improve access to information relating to the institutions, facilities and capabilities of NSUF Partners. Located in the new Resources section on the NSUF site, the Resource Explorer provides researchers with an easy and convenient way to explore the depth of information available in the Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Database.

Users can select an Institution Type, Facility Type, or Instrument Type, and the form will dynamically load options available for each selection. User can further refine the results by selecting additional types, and with a minimum amount of clicks, produce a capability summary including contact information, location, and instrument details - with all information directly linked to the detail page in the NEID.

Conclusion

Our goal for each update is to improve our websites to become more user friendly, intuitive, and supportive of collaborative research. This update reflects the creation of a new collaborative framework that we will extend in future updates to support review improvements, allow social media and research link integration, and showcase accomplished researchers and research projects supported by the NSUF.

If you have any questions or require additional information about this update, please contact us at [email protected] for assistance.